Korea

My sixth graders are currently studying five hours a day for a massive exam which determines which middle school they get into, and hence the rest of their lives. I was talking to them today - some are planning on going to the neighbouring Apo Middle School; others are setting their sites on a more selective school. Today they were telling me about their latest practice tests; some scored a triumphant 0, while others got a question wrong and got a dispiriting -1. And some came very late to class due to doing very badly and being kept back; I didn't find out their scores. Presumably, minus two or worse. Tough marking system.

One of my favourite and most difficult class 6 girls is Victory (I didn't name her). She is very bright, does a million activities, and has serious attitude. I can see her going off the rails in a few years. Her favourite English sentences are "Shuddup shuddup!" and "Why?". On my first day in the cafeteria she asked me my name and then declared "I am a genius." She's pretty bright. Yesterday I surprised her and another girl in the second English room playing with the magnetic letters on the board. They jumped and hastily rearranged the letters, leaving a rather telling circle of FCUK. "What's that?" I asked. "Fox," was Victory's snappy comeback.

I have a vague appointment to eat dog meat with the Special Needs teacher. Koreans' seem to find eating dog meat as strange and humorous as Westerners. My mentor teacher was very amused explaining about the Special Needs Teacher's guilty fondness for dog meat. "She has a dog," she said. "To eat?" I asked. "No, no. To take care of. But she likes dog meat. It is very ironic."